


Relearning the Familiar

by WarlockPatronofWriting



Category: Pocket Monsters: Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire | Pokemon Omega Ruby & Alpha Sapphire Versions, Pocket Monsters: Ruby & Sapphire & Emerald | Pokemon Ruby Sapphire Emerald Versions
Genre: Communication, First Time, Fluff and Smut, Hand Jobs, Light Angst, Light scratching, M/M, Mutual Masturbation, Porn with Feelings, Post-Canon, Post-Coital Cuddling, Post-Reconciliation, Talking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-14
Updated: 2021-01-14
Packaged: 2021-03-18 20:53:35
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 12,438
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28749549
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WarlockPatronofWriting/pseuds/WarlockPatronofWriting
Summary: First time attempts at communication in new circumstances hampered mostly by overthinking - one of the worse curses to plague Maxie, even when he's not about to attempt sex for the first time. But all sorts of idiots manage this, so it cannot be as difficult as his brain keeps telling him it must be.
Relationships: Aogiri | Archie/Matsubusa | Maxie
Comments: 2
Kudos: 38





	Relearning the Familiar

**Author's Note:**

> Note that this story is...vaguely post cannon? In some future point where Maxie and Archie have managed to get together despite their many issues and that time they nearly destroyed to world to help humanity/Pokémon and to spite each other. But other people wrote that bit and I'm happy to read their versions. This is just cus I wanted smut and feels and if I had to write it so be it.

Maxie sat on the end of his bed, in his small side room in Magma base, elbow resting on his knee, and tried not to let the crawling fear eating into his stomach show on his face. Considering that he was currently trying to decide if he could find a reasonable excuse to not have to do _this_ …that was probably not a great start.

Becoming friends with Archie again after nearly ruining the world, and confessing to those stupid feeling he’d only figured out almost too late in his life, had definitely been _infinitely_ worse than _this_.

So _why_ was it so difficult to keep up his determination to act?

And it wasn’t like he didn’t _want_ to do this. He did! That was the _problem_. He _wanted_ to, but there wasn’t a decent manual for this nonsense—Or at least not one he’d been able to bring himself to read. But Maxie knew the basic mechanics, and it could _not_ be that hard. All sorts of idiots managed to have sex without any issues, and he’d been together with Archie long enough that he _should_ have done this by now.

Should have; the keywords of the problem and the main reason for his current tension was how he’d…not. There had been enough contact so that it wasn’t really a question of if his body was interested in Archie.

It _very_ much was.

That had become a problem for Maxie in the past few weeks. That had been a very unpleasant surprise, as for the first time in a couple decades, Maxie’s iron self-control had failed him. Not in any significant or even particularly noticeable way. Just…minor blips that had been extremely annoying for him personally.

Maxie wanted Archie in a way he hadn’t been aware he _could_ want someone. And wasn’t _that_ at the top of the list of ‘Things that _should not_ be discovered in one’s forties’.

It was intensely irritating, and Maxie had much better things to do with his valuable time!

As such, Maxie had vowed to do this _now_ in the hopes he’d get enough of his brain back so that he could get back to work, without getting distracted continuously by thoughts of Archie. The curve of his bloody _neck_ had almost turned him on earlier. Who was interested in necks that wasn’t from one of Courtney’s abominable vampire books?

Idiots. That’s who.

“Who are you considering murdering?” Archie asked, walking into Maxie’s line of sight. He was fresh from the shower, hair wet with a towel hanging over his head and only wearing boxer shorts.

Maxie’s elbow slid from his knee, and he almost fell forward before catching himself, glaring at Archie with his beautiful stupid hair and face and chest and—

“ _Myself_.” Maxie snapped, trying to make his brain and other parts shut up.

Archie raised an eyebrow, “Really? What’s your brain doing now.”

"Don't want to talk about it." Maxie pushed up his glasses and rubbed his eyes. "Are you sure you still want to do this?"

"Mm, but you look like you don't."

Maxie dropped his hands away and glared at Archie. He was _not_ putting this off again. He refused to be defeated by his own brain, and sheer force of will would get him through this and hopefully, next time would be better.

But Archie didn't look like he was about to agree with this faultless logic.

Until this point, Maxie hadn't considered how much Archie could interfere with this plan to cure his brain of this stupid 'distracted by Archie being unfairly attractive', thing.

"As long as you look like that, we're not doing a thing, alright? Now either get ready for an early night or start talking to me properly, Maxie."

Maxie glared harder. "Look like what!"

"Like you'd rather be fighting Kyogre with your bare hands then be here. Just…" Archie rubbed at hand across his face. "You know that I'm perfectly happy just not having sex, right? What are you trying to prove here, Maxie?"

"I want to do this, so I get my brain back!"

"Then have a wank."

Maxie felt some of the remnants of his brain shut down at that. Archie was not allowed to say things like that because the hormone ridden mess of his brain was now thinking about _implications._ That was not permitted until Maxie decided it was!

And he _wanted_ to do this. Quite a lot, in fact. Not just because of the physical aspects, even if that was a lot of this.

But the idea of what it would be like, _emotionally,_ to let down that many walls, to be that close to someone? To be allowed into Archie's space and welcomed there, without having to worry that it was too much? To be able to show everything that was 'too much' for everyday life and see everything Archie was willing to offer him back in turn?

To not worry about going too far—

No. That last part wasn't right. And it was the _actual_ problem in this mess that was apparently Maxie's life now. Because he was terrified of going too far, and of finding things about himself that he didn't know yet.

Maxie didn't know how many more layers this could peel back and reveal of him. But that fear was _ridiculous_. Why was that what scared him! Archie knew what he was like—

But Maxie was sure that it was only habit and painstaking effort that kept him from being the person he knew he could be. And this sort of open physical undoing might end up making Archie realize that there wasn't any good at his core. That it was all spit and grit and conscious effort holding together Maxie's façade of a better self.

He'd nearly destroyed Hoenn because he was too proud to stop. What could that kind of careless thing could he do to Archie, if given a chance?

Maxie's breathing echoed in his ears, and he shoved his face into his hands, doing his absolute best to push down and cage the terror away. He couldn't, and _wouldn't,_ make Archie deal with this, not on top of every other neurosis that Maxie had managed to dig up in the last few years—

"Ah, _Maxie,_ what stuck in your head now." Archie's tone was soft and there couldn't have been a clearer edge of affection to it. The bed dipped next to him, a warm and solid presence pressing into Maxie’s side. "Come on, spit it out. I didn't judge you for the hugging me for like half an hour thing, last week. And just to be fair? It's not like you don't have just as much dirt on me that you've nobly overlooked."

Maxie glared at the floor through his fingers, trying to figure out if there was a short cut he could take to summarize this, so he could move this damned conversation on.

He _hated_ talking about subjects _knew_ were irrational. He was _better_ than this. There was a line in his head now, one between the irrational thoughts and rational fears. He knew that _this_ fear was irrational. But. There was always doubt. Because he'd been wrong about this before. And people had been hurt because he'd been wrong.

Fingers slid up the back of Maxie's head, drawing small circles into his scalp. "Look, we all got baggage about stuff like this, don't think that you're alone in this."

That…sparked a little oddly in Maxie's head. The idea that Archie had hang-ups here too and wasn't bringing it up until it would act to comfort _him_ …

Maxie dropped his hands to his knees and muttered. "Ignoring all of it will be fine. It's…"

Trailing off Maxie grappled, trying to find words to convey, 'I'm sorry, but I don't trust myself very much, and this requires a lot of that. That it turns out I don't trust myself with you like this because I don't know enough to make a rational judgement about it.' Without…having to _say_ that.

Once he had data, it would be fine because he'd know what it felt like and _then_ he could plan out how to deal with it. That was the plan he'd started with, and it would work fine, and there was no problem with it _at all._

"… It's fine." Maxie clenched his hands on his knees, concentrating on the fingers massaging his skull. "It's _fine_. Just hold me down, and we can both ignore it and get this over with."

Archie went still in the way he did when Maxie had said something _very_ wrong, and that was enough to pull Maxie back out of his head. The hand dropped away, and Maxie’s gaze snapped to the side to see Archie almost frozen in place.

Then Archie pushed back down whatever it was that Maxie had just inadvertently dug up, shrugging off that moment of unnatural still with a brief shake of his head.

Maxie touched Archie's knee. "Archie? Are you well?"

"I…" Archie blinked and shook himself, "I'm fine. Excuse me I need to— _"_

Archie had half stood, before Maxie panicked mouth taking over without his permission. "I apologize! I haven't any idea what I said wrong, but I apologize for it, please don't leave—"

Archie managed an almost-smile that didn't go anywhere to making Maxie feel less concerned for what had just happened. A hand ruffled his hair lightly, in a painfully familiar gesture. "—I was just going to turn off the fan in the bathroom Maxie. I'll be back in a moment."

It sure as felt longer than a moment, Maxie tried to arrange his thoughts into the least…bad version.

He was going to have to _explain_. Somehow the last couple of months of their relationship had involved a dozen more confessions and long rambling conversations about the dark things they'd buried then the last decade of friendship, rivalry, hatred and reconciliation, combined.

Something about trying to balance this new normal kept bringing out their worst tendencies, and it turned out then was more buried in their heads then they admitted to.

Well. It was better to admit to _some_ then keep this up.

Maxie breathed in and closed his eyes and waited until he heard Archie's footsteps again.

"I’ve not done this before and not knowing what to expect…unsettles me.” He said, and held his breath, waiting for Archie’s judgement.

“…Is that it?”

Maxie snapped his eyes open to glare in time to see Archie already visibly wincing at his own words. Maxie bit down on the vicious retort and tried to project through expression alone what he thought of that comment.

“I didn’t mean it like that! Damn it, I need to keep my stupid mouth shut better—!"

Maxie kept glaring, even as he felt himself settle a bit. He’d been somewhat amazed at how many of Archie’s comments came not from any genuine malice but a lack of filter. For himself, Maxie had to already be upset before he committed that foul misstep of speaking his mind unintentionally and there was usually vicious intention behind the words.

Archie, apparently, verbalized his every impulsive thought with an almost hilarious inability to sensor himself. It was only his more mellow nature, compared to Maxie at least (a low bar if there ever was one) that Archie didn’t have more enemies then friends. That and most of his thoughts tended to be blunt, but not unreasonable, which meant that Maxie had thought him painfully honest.

Until he’d found that Archie did not mean to speak like that, and it was almost _entirely_ unintentionally.

Now that he knew what was going on, and the lack of harm meant by his comments, Maxie found it almost cute. Not that he’d admit _that_ aloud even under pain of death, and unlike Archie he _could_ keep his thoughts to himself most of the time.

“…I _meant_ to say.” Archie said, pinching his nose. “…that sounds like a reasonable and normal thing to be anxious about. And I’m…relieved that it’s not…worse. I was getting concerned.”

Maxie felt the last of the residue anger settle, and he snorted, pressing fingers into his forehead. “I see. Of course, you’d assume the worst.”

Archie dropped his arms to give a loose shrug. “Hey! It’s not like you haven’t a tendency to drop heavy stuff on me with no warning.”

“I’m _trying_ to be better about that!”

“You’re spent the whole day like a Meowth on a hot tin roof Maxie. You could have cleared this up hours ago if you’d just said you getting first-time jitters! It’s not like I didn’t get the same thing, my first time, ya know?”

“Okay! Fine! Now that I’ve embarrassed myself, it’s _your_ turn! Why are you so high strung!” Maxie demanded, trying to get this back off him and onto Archie before he could completely bury his earlier overaction.

“I’m not _high strung,_ what are you talking about?” Archie snapped back.

Maxie waved a hand at all of Archie. “You were worried about _more_ than that, don’t lie to me! And after your reaction before? And the fact you’re _still_ tense? Talk! Because this isn’t _your_ first time and I doubt that you’re worried about _me_ being bad at sex!”

Archie pinched his nose, eyes closed. “I am sort of worried about that if it helps?”

Maxie glowered and refused to allow the offense to derail him, as he waited, for Archie to get to the thing he was avoiding.

Archie had a second sense for Maxie’s glares these days. After a moment where Archie started looking uncomfortable enough that Maxie almost considered retracting the question, he sighed and rubbed his face.

“Look. Fine. I’ve had sex, but it’s not like it was _good_ every single time and – Damn it! I’m just worried that this is going to be bad for you, Maxie?”

Maxie turned his glare into the flattest emotion he could muster. “You think that you’re somehow going to turn me off sex? Because I can assure you, you do _not_ have that much influence over me.”

Archie’s laugh was almost a touch bitter, and that caught Maxie off guard enough to start trying to analyze Archie.

Unpick what he _wasn’t_ saying.

“Maxie, there are a lot of uncomfortable ways this could go, even if it doesn’t even badly, even if both partners are willing and consenting… You could end up feeling _bad_ at the end of this, and I don’t… What I’m saying is, that it could have nothing to do with me, but I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable because of something I failed to do—”

Maxie leaned forward, grabbing Archie’s hand and holding it tight as he searched Archie’s face. “What happened.” He asked

“Nothing! It’s just a general observation? Just saying that I’m a little worried…I’m not sure how to like…describe it? It’s not a bad thing! It’s just…I don’t want you to regret this…” Archie was trying to smile, and it was almost even convincing, but his words weren’t.

Maxie wasn’t great at reading Archie. That had been the most bitter pill he’d ever had to swallow, as was coming to terms with that. But this trouble had eaten away enough at Archie that it was bleeding to the surface anyway. If Maxie was reading this, it was deep, and he still had no idea what he was even trying to see.

“…Do _you_ want to have sex with me?” Maxie asked, deciding to parrot back the question Archie had asked him multiple times now, in different forms.

That wasn’t a question he’d thought to ask. Maxie knew that Archie had slept with people. It was just something he did. Maxie had been weirdly jealous over it at one of the points before he’d figured out he was in love with Archie. But even before that, he’d noted that most of those casual partners moved on fast. It had been another point to complain about, to use in fights and not something to consider past that.

Archie squeezed his eyes shut. “ _Yes,_ Maxie, I do like sex. It’s just… I’ve not done this much where it _doesn’t_ end like that? Sometimes it’s great! But…it’s not like I’ve ever had a partner for more than a few weeks? And it feels empty a lot more then it doesn’t, and you…”

“I’m not that _fragile_ —” Maxie tried to interrupt, to brush away Archie’s worry that while clearly as irrational as his own was likely just as stuck in his head.

“I know. But I haven’t done this in a few years. And. I’m…scared of making you feel like that? This isn’t about you being fragile, this is you doing something _expected_ of you, even if it makes your insides crawl?”

“That’s my anxiety, it’s nothing to do with… _that_ sort of feeling. I’m pretty sure fears about this don’t…aren’t going to happen. Have I given you any reason to believe that I’d so that?” Maxie tried to smile back.

Archie’s eyes flickered away and back again. “I can’t read you well enough to know when you’re lying to me. Which means I’m not going to know if you hate this until you _tell_ me and I’m afraid you won’t do that.”

“…What do you want from me? A written confession?” Maxie managed, still trying to process what Archie had said.

Archie’s eyebrows draw together, a sign of annoyance. It occurred to Maxie that he probably sounded sarcastic, rather than comforting like he’d intended.

A curse escaped Maxie, and he pressed Archie’s hand to his forehead, trying to let his actions take over for his stupid mouth. Archie laughed, still tense, and with an edge was worried Maxie, but that was _something._

There was the squeak of the bedsprings as Archie sat down next to him again, and Maxie kept hold of his hand, lowering it to his chest and holding it there.

“All I want from you, Maxie, is that if you don’t like something, _tell me_? Please?” Archie said.

“Of course I will. And I do _want_ this, and I will tell you if I don’t. But I…” Maxie decided to move his gaze to the floor to avoid having to look into Archie’s eyes, and said through gritted teeth, “…I don’t know what I’m asking for yet? That’s why I want you to…take control this time. I need _data_.”

Archie’s face shifted a bit, and a half-smile curved the corner of his mouth. “You know? I think we can do that. Keep it simple.”

“Simple how,” Maxie demanded, eyes narrow.

“Just…let it go where it will and stop if it’s too much or you don’t like it. Even for trivial reasons. Any reason at all. And then we... work it out and try again? Not stop, just…change it around? We’ll…feel it out, as it were.”

That…sounded a lot more straightforward than the vague picture Maxie had been stressing over.

Archie huffed a little and leaned in, pressing his mouth carefully just below Maxie’s ear, a soft kiss with the faintest brush of teeth. Maxie held utterly still, refusing to do anything that could make Archie uncomfortable.

“Does that feel good?” Archie asked, breath ghosting over his skin so that Maxie’s skin prickled.

“I suppose,” Maxie said, grudgingly.

“…” Archie snorted and rested his forehead against Maxie’s shoulder. “Maxie. You have to _work with me_ here. ‘I suppose’ is a terrible answer.”

“I am trying my best!” Maxie snapped back and tried to get the primal parts of his brain to shut up enough so he could give a coherent response. “How do you even _define_ good, in this situation, Archie? It feels…fine? I guess? But I’m not yet sure about what the scale is, or how I’m mean to classify or quantify particular sensations—”

“I don’t need you to rank it on a scale from one to ten! Just…Yes or no. Can you do _that_ for me?”

“Okay, _fine,_ I’ll do my best, but what I really want to know is, _how_ are we going to do this?”

Maxie knew just enough to know that there were positions and that they were necessary. And actions that dictated which you were meant to pick, and damn it he should have watched some porn, but it was disgusting, he got absolutely nothing out of it, and—

Archie flinched Maxie’s nose and raised an eyebrow at his suddenly focused glare. “…Here’s what we’re going to do, Maxie. You don’t want to think about this until you’ve figured out what you want. And I’d quite like to make sure that you know what you want _before_ we do anything tricky. So. We’re going to try something very…basic.”

Archie took Maxie’s arm and pulled him until they were at the head of the bed. Archie sat, back to the head of the bed, and paused until Maxie got the message and sat between Archie’s legs, back pressed into his chest. It was a little awkward and Maxie had no idea where to put his hands. He settled for folding them into his lap as he waited, back stiff, to see what Archie would do next.

Archie wrapped his arms about Maxie and hooked his chin over Maxie’s shoulder. Maxie’s eyes twitched between his feet and Archie’s, and Archie caught an ankle around his, tangling their feet together.

Whatever ‘basic’ Archie must really mean it because he wasn’t doing _anything_ yet.

But having his back to Archie’s chest oddly left Maxie feeling better now that there wasn’t the constant threat of eye contact.

The warm bulk at his back also helped, and the fuzzy chin resting on his shoulder was also something that had become oddly familiar in recent months. Archie liked hanging over Maxie’s shoulder, taking a moment to check what Maxie’s was working on and then moving on.That helped to ground this in actions Maxie already knew well.

If it weren’t for Archie only wearing boxer shorts, this would have been almost platonic. Considering that Archie rarely wore more than boxes to bed, and had a tendency to cuddle when asleep, Maxie was used to that too.

It was odd realizing that this had slipped into something familiar enough to take the edge of his anxiety. Maxie wondered if Archie knew his body language well enough now to pick that.

Archie snorted. “Funny. I was expecting you to tense up more, not go all pliant on me.”

Maxie allowed himself to ease back more into Archie. “You’re warm.” He said, careful to keep his voice blunt rather than flat.

That startled a laugh out of Archie and Maxie basked in the sound. “Of course, _that’s_ what you like. This is why I spent so much time wondering if you were interested in sex at all—”

Maxie refused to let them get derailed back to _that_ point and turned his head enough to pull Archie down into a kiss.

They’d got the hang of the whole kissing thing in the last few months, and that more than anything else was what prompted Maxie’s attempts to…escalate their relationship. It was undoubtedly why he’d had so many…distracting thoughts, recently.

By the time that Maxie was sure he’d made his point to Archie, he could feel his body reacting in a way that had because _very_ common. And that for the first time Maxie tried to just…let happen. Feel the warmth pooling in his stomach and let the hunger for Archie stay, and make its home in his chest.

“Now _you’re_ the one with the plan.” Maxie’s voice shook a little, but now it was equal amounts of excitement, and arousal, as the anxiety that was clawing under his skin. “So. Do something.”

Archie’s arms had been wrapped around his shoulders, but one now let go, and Archie redirect Maxie’s hands to the side and away from his lap. Maxie let him do this, grabbing at the sheet with one hand, and loosely holding Archie’s knee with the other.

Archie raised and trailed his fingers back down, softly, over Maxie’s chest, still on the outside of his sweater, and down his side to rest just above the hip bone. It remained there a moment, on the exposed line of flesh there between his shorts and sweater.

“Alright, let’s see if I can give you some ‘data’ nerd.”

Maxie glared at the far wall, taking advantage of the fact that Archie couldn’t see his face, as those fingers pressed below the waistband of his shorts to trace a slow circle into his hip.

“Are you making _fun_ of me?” Maxie resisted the urge to hold his breath, eyes dropping a little as Archie pushed up the edge of his sweater with his thumb. The hand caressed the bone that was now just peeked out over the edge of Maxie’s shorts.

“Only a little,” Archie said, and pressed a kiss into Maxie’s neck, breath as warm as the rest of him. “You know this would be a lot easier if you weren’t wearing so many layers?”

“I’d be _cold_.”

“I know, that’s why I’m only commenting. Be harder to separate a Blastoise from its shell then you from your layers. I’m imaginative, and I can work around them.”

Archie’s hand was warm, but the feeling of it sliding over Maxie’s bare stomach, and under his clothes, sent a shiver down his spine anyway. For a moment Maxie did hold his breath, waiting for Archie’s hand to drift higher for lower, but it ended up staying at more or less the same level.

The featherlight touch was doing _something_ for him, even so, and Maxie found himself fixating on _why_ , as heat pooled under Archie’s hand.

“What are you doing?” Maxie asked, trying to sound like he was merely curious, and not already suppressing the urge to demand more.

“Starting slow.” Archie hummed. “I can be interested in getting data about you too, you know.”

The touch dropped a little to trace the edge of Maxie’s shorts. They were now riding low enough for Archie to trace the line of hair trailing into Maxie’s boxes, before moving back over to his hip again.

Maxie found himself fighting the urge to raise his hips a little. To try and get Archie to get a move on without _saying_ it. Maxie felt that if there was _anything_ he was allowed to be vague about, it was _this_.

“May I remove some of your layers? Just enough to—” Archie started.

“ _Yes.”_ Maxie didn’t both trying to not sound interested, if Archie wanted him to be restrained about this he should move faster, damn it.

Oddly that startled another slight laugh from Archie, and to Maxie slight confusion, it was his sweater that was pushed up now to halfway up his stomach.

Maxie shivered as the cool air brushed across his skin. Archie’s breath was hot in his ear, and Maxie had to bite his cheek hard as Archie ran a hand up his chest. It wasn’t the rough touch that Maxie had half anticipated, but a soft and curious one that mapped out one of his nipples. He could feel himself hardening under the light touch, as it sent a direct fire downward.

Despite his best efforts, Maxie twitched, teeth cutting into his cheek hard enough to hurt.

The hand immediately dropped away. “You okay?” Archie asked, sounding concerned and Maxie bit his cheek again to not curse him for stopping.

“ _Archie_.” Maxie managed, and then had to spend a moment adjusting his tone from angry back to…not angry. If that left him sounding a little desperate, so be it. “I am _fine_ , but if you don’t escalate this, I’m going to do it for you!”

Archie slowly returned to what he’d been doing, but this time drifted to the opposite side. “Ah, okay then, if you say so, Maxie.”

“Just do it and stop asking stupid questions!” Maxie couldn’t do much for his tone this time, not with the feeling that he was wide open with all of this happening out of his sight, but at least the only response from Archie was a quiet chuckle.

It was hard to think to start with, and for mysterious reasons, it was _not_ easier when Archie chose that moment to tweak his nipple hard enough to pull a gasp from Maxie.

Maxie couldn’t stop himself from immediately pressing his knuckles against his mouth to prevent that noise from _ever_ happening again.

This time Archie’s huff wasn’t so much amused, as it was understanding. “I should have guessed.” He said, and his hand returned to its previous softer motions that pulled at the nipple all the more for how it was still stinging a bit.

“What. Is it.” Maxie asked around his hand.

“For some reason, I thought that you’d be more vocal about your likes and dislikes. I should have remembered that you hate letting me into your head when you don’t get to curate what I see. This is going to have a lot of this, Maxie. You sure you want that?”

“ _Yes_.” Maxie didn’t think, didn’t stop to ask himself dark questions about how this could be wrong.

This was simple, straightforward and if he _had_ to open up here, had to be vulnerable and soft and let Archie take him to pieces…then he’d have to accept that.

In the last few years, Archie had done nothing but help put Maxie back together. And Maxie wanted, as much as he wanted Archie physically in many ways, to be that person for Archie too.

Maxie tried to order how he was thinking about this. Because Archie had already described why this was better for both of them. _This_ was a step forward. They’d _agreed_. He’d let Archie in, Archie had to trust him to be honest.

So maybe if he reminded Archie of that …?

“Archie.” Maxie tried to relax, lowered his hand from his mouth and gripping Archie’s knee again, grounding himself there. “Do you trust me?”

“I…of course I _trust_ you. Generally, that is—”

Almost twitching Maxie quickly cut back in, annoyed that he’d left in a verbal trap without even intending it. “No, I’m sorry. I was unclear. I mean… Archie. I’m going to trust you. I will trust you even if this ends up weird and uncomfortable. Will you trust me to know myself well enough to judge when I want you to stop? We both need to trust here, don’t we?”

There was a slight pause, and one that Maxie had learned meant that Archie was trying to find the right words. “…Okay. Yeah. We do. And I think I can do that much.”

Archie pressed a kiss into the gap below his ear, and Maxie turned and caught his lips. Finding and putting those words together was worth it, as Maxie felt the stiffness he’d not even noticed, bleeding out of Archie.

The kiss reawakened everything that had started cooling off as Maxie had been forced to give an entire defence of his motivation. Still, they seemed to _finally_ be on the same page. For that, Maxie would have sacrificed the whole evening.

Maxie fell deeper into the kiss, and Archie _at last_ , started moving his damned hand again.

This time there was no light brush of movement, as Archie immediately pinched a nipple firmly between his fingers, and Maxie found himself involuntarily gasping into the kiss. Archie followed the rough treatment with an almost tender touch.

Breaking the kiss, Maxie dropped his head back onto Archie’s shoulder, breathe jerking as Archie repeated the treatment on the other side.

He’d not noticed how tentative Archie had been until suddenly he _wasn’t_.

“Which do you prefer?” Archie said, close enough for his breath to brush Maxie’s ear. “Hash or soft touch?”

“I…I don’t know?” Trying to pull together enough conscious thought to answer direct questions was a lot to ask of him right now, he felt. But Archie must want data too, and it would be much harder to talk about this later.

Not waiting for an answer, Archie’s hand switched back and pinched again, hard enough to hurt.

Maxie found an involuntary whine escaping him, hip twitching as the sensation went straight to the building heat down there. His shorts were uncomfortably tight now, something deeply objectional, considering alleviating that pressure was kind of the _point_ of this!

Archie kissed him again and rubbed the nipple softly even as it continued to sting a little.

Maxie dug his fingers into Archie’s knee and tried to anaylise the differance. “Hasher. Is better. But it works because of the contrast. I think?”

Teeth scrapped down Maxie’s neck and bit his ear just enough for him to feel it. Maxie bit his cheek, trying not to whimper at the touch, and Archie finally started dragging his hand down Maxie’s chest towards where he _needed_ to be touched.

“How do you manage to sound like you’re giving a report when talking about this?” Archie said, slipping a hand into his shorts and skimming over the skin hidden down there. And still just a little too high.

“I could give you a written report and still miss little of interest considering how slow you’re moving.” Maxie snapped, and give in to the urge to press his hips up, trying to egg Archie on.

“See! This is more like what I was expecting from you.” Archie said and pointedly didn’t do more than continued to shift the layers that were now very tight indeed.

“You _expected_ me to bitterly complain that writing a report would be more interesting than sex with you?”

“No.” Archie slid his hand deep enough to cup Maxie through his boxes. “I expected you to be demanding and fussy at me while you still had no idea what you were doing.”

Maxie bit his cheek hard enough to really hurt, but that still didn’t stop the whine that escaped his mouth. “ _Archie_ —”

“You know this would be a lot easier if you weren’t wearing like, three layers—”

Maxie pulled out of Archie hold, pushed down his shorts to his knees and tried to kick them off, only to get stuck with them halfway off.

“Stupid, bloody—” Maxie grunted.

“I didn’t mean—” Archie began, and untangled their feet so that Maxie could finally get free.

Kicking his shorts off, Maxie settled back against Archie and tried to pretend that he’d not got stuck in the first place. “Carry on!” He demanded, refusing to allow the mood to get that interrupted more then he’d already done.

“…You’re willing to take off your shorts, but not your socks. Maxie. I think those should have come off first.”

“I’m not taking off more than I have to!” Maxie snapped back. “You said you were creative! Prove it!”

Archie pinched Maxie on the thigh, “That wasn’t what I meant and how do you want me to be creative with your stupid woollen stockings?”

“I _don’t_.” Maxie elbowed Archie in the ribs. “You were the one complaining! And they’re not stupid, because it was this or legging that are a pain in the neck to wear or knee socks which reminds me of school in a way I _do not_ approve of! These are a compromise I learned to live with, and you bloody well can too!”

“I find it funny that arousal makes you swear so much,” Archie said, paying no attention of the rest of his point. “And all these years I thought only anger could have you do that. Maybe you are hornier than I gave you credit for.”

“Of course I am!” Maxie retorted before his brain could fully process the implications of that. Then it did, and Maxie buried his face in his heads, glad only that having his back to Archie meant that hopefully he couldn’t see how red he’d gone.

“Well, you’re sure convincing me, considering how quick you got your pants off. Want me to help that you ‘little problem’ now?”

Maxie dragged his hands down his face and contemplated the idiot reasoning that had led him to believe that sex would magically be the one thing that they didn’t make ridiculous. For all that he was currently trying to ignore Archie, even as he pulled Maxie to lean back against his chest with a laugh, Maxie felt oddly cheered.

There was something comforting in how Archie was still himself, even doing this. Still lighting mocking, keeping the mood light even when Maxie tried to force them to be serious, and yet caring and soft despite that.

Maxie had been a little concerned about expectations, but if this was the bar he had to reach? Well then, he was probably going to do fine because he was _sure_ he could do better than Archie at staying on topic.

“Ah, don’t fuss. It’s not like you lost interest.” Archie said in a way that Maxie could _hear_ the grin in, even as he pulled Maxie tighter to his chest.

Maxie swallowed and glanced away from the visible tent in his boxes. He was consciously aware of how much skin Archie could see and pressed his knees together. “It’s not you got us _that_ far off track.” He muttered.

“Mm. You do have a horny streak, don’t you?” Archie cupped a hand over him, palming Maxie through his shorts, letting Maxie’s legs stay pressed together. “I do apologize for not taking you at your word.”

“You _should_.” Maxie snapped and bit his lip as he felt parts of him all but jumping to attention at Archie’s touch.

The heat grew under Archie’s hand as he ground his hand downward. Even with a layer of fabric between him and Archie, it still felt like almost too much.

How the hell was this so much more intense than doing this for himself? Maxie didn’t know how or why but he really wanted to figure it out. If that required doing it again and again until he figured it out, he was beginning to be okay with that idea.

With Archie’s arm about Maxie’s shoulders and the other arm anchored over his ribs, Maxie should have felt smothered. But instead, he felt adrift in sensations.

There still wasn’t enough, though.

Reluctantly, feeling more on display then he liked, Maxie forced his knees apart and hooked an ankle over Archie’s leg. Archie paused, before slowly sliding his hand into the gap and _now_ there was better purchase for Maxie to grind into the loose hand. Archie curled his hand, and suddenly all Maxie had to do was twitch his hips as heat flared.

A shaky breath escaped him. “ _Archie_ —"

“I got ya, Maxie, you’re good. Ready for a bit more?”

It went a long way to showing how fried Maxie’s brain was that he legitimately had no idea what Archie was referring to.

Archie’s laugh was soft. “Well, we might have found a way to turn your brain off. That or you’re capable of missing innuendo while grinding into my hand and if that’s not an achievement, I don’t know what is. My question is, may I touch you directly, Maxie?”

Maxie still took a moment to process that, and when he did, he felt his face flushing hotly. “…You were deliberately vague!” Maxie’s breath was uneven now, shaking despite his best efforts. “And _yes_! I’ve been asking of this for long enough so I forgot that might even be an option, Archie! So, this is your fault, not mine!”

“Ah, well then, I should really get a move on.” Archie removed his hand, and Maxie absolutely did not whimper at the loss.

Hooking a thumb under the waistband of Maxie’s shorts, Archie dragged them down his thighs. Far enough that Maxie no longer felt trapped and overheated, but the air was cold, he was almost painfully turned on, and Archie could _see_ —

Maxie pressed his face into Archie’s shoulder and tried not to think at _all_. “I’m _okay_. I’m _fine_. It’s not bad; it’s just a _lot_. Keep going, and I’ll adjust.” Maxie managed to say, hips twitching a bit in place, as he desperately hoped that Archie wouldn’t insist that he look yet.

“You’re doing fine, stay still and let me take care of ya.” Lips pressed into Maxie’s forehead, softly, and Maxie almost jumped as a warm grip took him in hand.

Firm and with just a bit too much fiction to be comfortable, it was still pressure in the right place, and that was what he’d been craving.

Something was now poking him in the back too and that only made his arousal more intense. Maxie tried to wrap his mind about the physical sign that Archie was enjoying this, enjoying seeing _him_ —

Maxie didn’t have body image issues. He knew he was attractive enough, and he knew that he looked very good in red. But knowing that _Archie_ found him this attractive? That he could see Maxie splayed out and leaking into his hand? That he could hear everything falling from Maxie’s mouth from the whimpers of pleasure to the pleas for more.

That Archie _wanted_ to see him like this, open and pathetically needy, and that it was turning _him_ on?

Maxie dug his nails into both the bed and Archie as he tried to keep some degree of control, to prove that he could be above his animal instincts. The arm about Maxie’s shoulders pulled him in tighter, giving him a point of steadiness, anchoring him in place.

Then Archie flicked with his thumb _just so_ , and that last bit of control slipped away with the movement of those fingers.

Gasps and little pleading words, soft, disjointed and _abominably_ needy, dropped from his mouth. Begging Archie, even as he wasn’t sure what he was asking him for. Archie kept up a steady pace, tempering praise, and a soft adoring tone until Maxie thought he would break from it.

“—Come on, Maxie, you’re doing great, just a bit more—”

“Archie, _please—”_

And Archie did the thing with his thumb again, and Maxie felt the remnants of his brain give up as he came in Archie’s grip.

Archie slowed his movements, as he let Maxie ride it out, face still buried in Archie’s shoulder as he tried to stop panting. Now oversensitive, Maxie whined, letting his hips follow Archies hand as he continued to slowly stroke him as the heat faded away. A hand slid under Maxie’s chin and lifted his head until Archie could kiss him. There was no urgency here, even with the shape poking into Maxie’s back and Archie’s hand still on him.

Maxie blinked, and slowly tried to reorder his thoughts. He risked a glanced down towards Archie’s, now very sticky hand, and felt himself twitch in Archie’s grip. Pink, blushed, and wet, it was _dreadful_.

Another vaguely embarrassing noise fell out of Maxie’s mouth. He tried to push off Archie’s hand, only for him to tangle their fingers together, wet stickiness and member included.

“My refractory period is _not_ that good Archie. I’m forty, not fifteen, damn it!” Maxie knew it sounded like a whine, but couldn’t manage anyway else with that in view.

“I’m not doing _that_ much.” Archie was teasing him, and damn him it’s not like he was _wrong_.

“You’re still doing _enough_.” Maxie sniped back; brain stuck enough, so he just let Archie keep doing what he wanted.

It was only the lightest grip now, with Maxie’s own fingers getting more attention than anything else was. Amusingly enough, despite the touch, Maxie was starting to get parts of his brain back. Most of him was now focused on feeling Archie, his heat, and his breathing that was the only real sign of his arousal.

Apart from the _obvious_ one anyway; the one poking into Maxie’s back.

Maxie tried to calculate how uncomfortable it would be to keep his boxes on for now and decided it was better than the alternative.

“…You doing okay there Maxie? You’ve got all quiet on me.”

“Please removed your hand,” Maxie said, still trying to work out the logistics of what he wanted to do next.

Archie had been right. That had been basic enough that Maxie was sure he could manage as much, and it wasn’t like he’d been fixated on his own body for the last few weeks.

Archie almost jerked as he moved his hand away. Maxie barely noticed that as he tried to reorganize himself resettling his boxes. Before the doubts could set in, Maxie turned around, pushing at Archie’s legs until he moved them together so Maxie could straddle them, facing Archie.

It wasn’t the best position, but it would work for now, and Maxie very much wanted to see what Archie looked like during this. It was this point Maxie realized it would be very hard to avoid eye contact.

And that Archie was looking tense, and moderately confused. Maxie blinked at him, keeping his back straight as he tried to figure out the least awkward way to make this work.

Maybe if he communicated the problem Archie could offer a solution.

Or he could check if Archie was okay first. Yes, he should do that.

“Are you well? Was that too much?”?” Maxie asked, picking up Archies hand to try and offer comfort if that had been more stressful then he expected. The hand was sticky, but so was his now, thanks to Archie. Maxie was willing to ignore that in favour of focusing on Archie instead.

Archie closed his eyes and breathed out, even as his chest shook with the edge of a laugh. “…I’m fine Maxie. I just don’t know what _you’re_ doing, is all.”

Maxie blinked and frowned. “…This is very basic, as you said, and I _know_ that I can stay focused better than you…Oh...” Maxie stuttered to a halt and found himself caught in sudden uncertainty that chewed into his determination like it was as unstable as a cloud. “Do…you not want me to touch you?”

“…Do _you_ want to touch me?”

Maxie would have glared, had he not been too confused to. “…Is that not the _point_ of this? Getting a chance to explore the other without expectations? Or should we reverse positions? Is that the problem? But I have not spent the last week with my brain constantly trying to tell me about how much I want to touch you to _not_ act on it when I have the chance! And I want to _see_ you while I do it!... If you don’t mind. That is.”

Archie was still giving him an odd look, but it was settling into something wry and amused, and that helped Maxie know he’d gotten the point across. There might have been a miscommunication, but if Archie was relaxing, he understood adequately now, and that meant it was fine.

“May I?” Maxie asked, and cupped a hand under Archie’s jaw and leaned in to wait and see if he was ready too.

“Okay. Sure nerd, if I’m allowed to ‘explore’, so are you.” Archie looked almost cocky now, and that only further highlighted how unsure he’d been before.

Maxie paused and narrowed his eyes, scanning Archie’s face, still cradling his jaw as a little anxiety crept back. “…Did I make you uncomfortable?”

“Ha! No, no, it was just that you froze up there and I wasn’t sure _why_ until I figured out you’d gone into your ‘analytical mode’ thing.”

“Ah.” Maxie winced and dropped away his hand to attempt to smooth his hair back out of his eyes. “I’m sorry—”

“Don’t _apologize_ , Maxie,” Archie slipped a hand around the back of Maxie’s head and pulled him in for a kiss.

Maxie was on the fence about if kissing turning off his brain was a good or bad development. It was very annoying when it interfered with critical thoughts, but it was pleasant to be derailed from darker thoughts. It was a tossup, either way.

But right now, Maxie was sure that it was an advantage, and it did go a long way to getting him back on track.

Archie’s shoulders were very nice to feel too, and Maxie traced out their shape. Despite every attempt from his mother to train him out of it, Archie was still a little allergic to shirts. And with his main form of clothing being a skintight wetsuit? Maxie knew the shape of them _very_ well.

To be fair, it wasn’t like Archie’s wetsuit hid much of _anything_.

It was amazing to Maxie that he’d got this far in life with only moderate problems to do with Archie’s dressing habits. Something to do with exposure therapy meant that he’d not considered it at _all_ until suddenly Archie was allowed to take Maxie and press him into a wall, body so very close, and kiss him until his brain shut down.

And after that, it had been damned near impossible to think of anything else.

Breaking the kiss, Maxie almost frozen again, unsure what he was meant to start.

Then again, Archie had started very slow. It didn’t need to be mind-blowing. This was about gathering _data_.

He could do this.

Maxie, still breathing hard from the kiss, dropped a hand to Archie’s bare stomach, running his fingers in a featherlight touch over it. There was a slight dip as Archie breathed in a little sharply.

Maxie let his hand follow the movement, shuffling to sit a little lower on Archie’s thighs, and following the flexing muscles down to the waistband of Archie’s boxes. He ignored the tent in the boxes because he would have to work up to that.

“That movement felt oddly good when you did it to me,” Maxie said conversationally, bushing his fingers along the waistband. “Does it feel good to you?”

“I—” Archie’s breath caught in his throat as Maxie pushed his hand down the side of his boxes to feel the shape of his hip. “Good enough?”

Maxie rolled his eyes, and pressed his fingers deeper, leaving the boxes to shift even lower on Archie’s hips. “And you said _I_ was unclear in my appraisal.” He scoffed.

That got a laugh out of Archie, one that Maxie could feel tensing the muscles in his stomach. “I _knew_ it, still with no idea what you’re doing and already you’re taunting me.” Archie leaned forward, again flexing the muscles under Maxie’s hand, and pressed a kiss against his mouth. “I love you so much, you smug bastard.”

Maxie grinned back into the open-mouthed kiss and enjoyed the flash of heat that it sent through him, as he used his thumb to flick the waistband of Archie’s boxes, before pulling his hand free. Humming, Maxie ran a hand up to Archie’s chest and ghosted his finger’s over his nipple. “I wasn’t aware that this area could be that sensitive, to be honest.”

Archie made a bit of a face. “Eh, it varies person to person? You’re a bit more tender their than I expected, you’ll find I’m not quite as sensitive as you are—”

Maxie frowned and pinched the nipple the amount that he was sure Archie had done, accidentally interrupting Archie, as he breathed in sharply.

Maxie flinched and pulled his hand away sharply, “I’m sorry—”

Archie took another quick breath and bumped their foreheads together. “As I was saying, until you _interrupted,_ that you’ll find I react more to _sharp movements_ , Maxie.”

“…So, keep doing what I was doing?” Maxie asked.

Archie huffed a laugh. “Yeah, keep going.”

Maxie lightened his touch, tracing the lighter outside pink, and shifted a bit closer, only to realize that he was now sitting on Archie’s lap. If he shifted against, he’d he be all but grinding into Archie, and that thought shut down that parts of his brain that had been still functional.

Was he allowed to do that? Was that too far? What would make Archie uncomfortable?

Somehow Maxie had gotten aroused against, even as sticky and uncomfortable as he theoretically felt. And the way he was pressing into Archie left no doubt as to what Archie thought of the contact.

Maxie only released he’d gone still when Archie bumped their foreheads together and asked. “What’s got you stuck this time?”

“I…” Maxie blinked and focused on Archie. That was right. He could ask, couldn’t he? “May I…?” Maxie pointedly rocking his hips against Archie, feeling the friction reignite the fire in his stomach.

“Maxie, as you so _eloquently_ put it earlier. You can do whatever the hell you want so long as you do _something_.” Archie said, breath hitching, and Maxie finally looked up properly at his face to see that there was a dark flush across his nose and cheeks. Left desperate by _Maxie._ His head spun with pleasurable delight, the knowledge that _he_ was the one doing this to Archie. That he had control and that Archie was _letting_ him do this, _wanted_ him to do this.

Maxie flexed his thighs and rocked his hips forward in slow, steady movements, hands grabbing at Archie's forearms to help keep him stable. The short sharp jerks made his boxes chafe, even as the movement’s unintentional stiffness added to the building need.

This wasn’t working as well as he'd planned, but maybe it was the angle…?

“ _Maxie_ ,” Archie hissed his name, breath tight and shifted his hands to hold Maxie’s hips, fingers biting into them hard enough to drag a whine from Maxie. “You’re not sitting quite right—”

“I’m doing my _best_ —” Maxie snapped.

“I know, I know, just let me help there…” Fingers pressed into the inside of his thighs until Maxie let his legs open a bit wider, face heating as he did so. “Now budge up a little…”

Despite his doubts, Maxie let Archie help ease him a bit higher, and ahh—! Pressing down, and grinding into Archie, Maxie felt his legs twitch under him as he finally started getting better friction.

The hands holding Maxie’s hips bit into the flesh, as Archie’s grip slid, so he was holding the bare skin of his thighs. Nails scratched the skin, and the little flashes of pain were surprising in how good they felt.

Maxie stuck on that thought and looked down trying to figure out the logic behind that. Woollen stockings framed his legs along with his boxes, now riding below his hips. His paler skin looked almost pasty next to Archies darker skin and was blushing pink where Archie’s fingernails had left scrapes down them.

Archie flinched as his eyes followed Maxie’s, and jerked his hands away, “I’m sorry—"

Maxie growled under his breath and grabbed at Archie retreating hand and replaced them. “No, I’m not _opposed_ to it, merely surprised. I didn’t expect that to feel good.”

Archie’s eyebrows rose a fraction, but he obeyed, digging in his fingernails experimentally, and Maxie bit his lip to stop the whine. “Yes, _that_ , keep doing _that_ —” Maxie cut himself off with a hiss as Archie dragged his nails down the inside of his leg.

“…Did not see that one coming,” Archie said, sounding almost breathy and he edged his thumb to scrape the skin just below the leg of Maxie’s boxers.

Maxie huffed a laugh of his own, his hips moving almost on their own as he tried chasing relief. “I should have. I knew that fighting with you as a kid awakened something in me.”

Archie’s eyebrows shot up, and he looked at Maxie interest, and his hands slowed a bit. “Wait, is _that_ why you stopped—”

Maxie rolled his eyes, “You straddled me and held my arms down while hot, sweaty and shirtless! I’m lucky you were dense and never noticed exactly _what_ that did to me.”

“Is _that_ why you told me to hold you down at the start of this?” Archie carefully pushed at Maxie’s stocking, pushing them down to his knees as he dragged his fingernails down the newly exposed skin. “Because if it is, then you’re a _lot_ kinkier then I gave you credit for—”

Maxie bit down on a whimper, breathe ragged in his throat, arching at the sensations and rocking harder. This was steadily building to the point of not enough, and he had no idea how to escalate this further. “I’m not—!”

“Ah, Maxie, this isn’t going to feel good if you keep this up—” Archie started, and Maxie found hands on his hips, stopping his movement and holding him in place.

Knowing that Archie was stronger than him intellectually was different to this demonstration of it, and it certainly made his fuzzy brain wonder if Archie was capable of lifting him, pushing him into a wall, holding him pinned, helpless and begging until—

“Maxie,” Archie asked, breath unsteady, but voice calm. “Do you mind moving?”

Maxie’s brain crashed back to reality, and he blinked at Archie, helpless to understand what he was talking about now, “…To where?”

“Positions, Maxie.”

Maxie whined as Archie lifted him and so that they were sitting side by side. Then Archie shuffled down the bed until he was lying on his side. He pulled at Maxie until his absent brain startled back to gear and he imitated him, lying face to face on their sides in the middle of the bed.

“Okay, now here—” Archie reached over and pulled Maxie closer until he could tangle their legs together.

Maxie’s back arched inward enough for him to see when Archie reached for and pulled down Maxie’s boxes to his knee. Archie fumbled doing the same for himself, collected Maxie’s hands and tangled them all together.

Soft and yielding, but also stiff and so very hot, and both of them dripping over their fingers, Maxie had seen a lot of Archie, but seeing _this_ —? The little pants, Archie’s not quite whines, the desperation that Archie was openly wearing, and knowing that it was him that had done this?

Maxie wriggled a bit until he could get to Archie’s mouth and kiss him, open-mouthed, and trying to convey every word not getting out of his mouth. Their hands moved awkwardly at first but slowly smoothed out as they started moving together properly.

If the first time had been raw need and overwhelming sensations, _this_ time was heat, closeness, breathy whimpers and both of them trying to throw everything in the kiss while their hands moved in tandem.

Archie, who’d been near the edge without relief a lot longer, twitched and arched in Maxie’s grip not long after. Breaking the kiss Maxie looked down, mesmerized by Archie, unable to help himself from cupped his fingers over the tip, feeling it spill between his fingers.

Archie’s own grip loosed for a moment, leaving Maxie neglected enough to feel cold air brushing him. Archie was softening in his hand now, and Maxie could feel him trying to put his brain back together as he whimpered at Maxie’s touch. Then Archie shifted his hand, and took hold of Maxie again, pumping him firmly, slick, tight and _fast_.

Maxie mewled, tears beading in the corners of his eyes as Archie stroked him in a way that made the first time seem slow and gentle.

Maxie was begging now, loudly, his whole body shivering as Archie’s legs held his own in place so only his hips could move. He was too loud, he was sure, this was obscene, he _couldn’t_ be taken apart this well with just this, wasn’t _allowed_ to beg Archie like this.

Archie got a hand over his back at some point, cupping him and draw him nearer. Fingers bushing places Maxie hadn’t yet decided were a part of this, adding more intense feelings to this mess of need.

“Archie, Archie, _Archie_ , _please_ —"

Then nails dug in, at the crease with his thigh, the sharp pain pulling a wail from him as Maxie came hard. Archie continued to massage him until he was done, leaving Maxie shaking from the overload of sensations. Nails scrapped almost gently down the back of his leg, and Archie’s hand kept going, even as Maxie whimpered and twitched into the still firm grip. His hips jerking, trying to get closer and escape at the same time.

Then the hand pulled away, and arms pressed around his back, as Archie tangled them both together, tucking Maxie’s head in under his chin despite the odd angle this left them on. Maxie ached, stinging marks on his thighs still lightly singing, and his head buzzed, thick and foggy.

“You—You good Maxie?” Archie managed, voice rough.

Maxie curled closer into Archie, still panting, and tried to hum softly to show that he was fine. His head was almost gloriously empty right now. Everything was focused on the mess of contradictory sensations making his body feel so much more present than it normally did.

He felt aware of everything and centred on Archie’s slowing breathing that was even and loud in his ear. In a few minutes, he was going to want a shower, and he’d probably also start feeling embarrassed. But that was later. For now, he felt content and light.

Maxie hadn’t been aware that he could feel this satisfied. He hummed again, pressing his face into Archie’s neck. Wriggling a bit, he squeezed close enough so that he was pressing against the full length of Archie’s body.

Archie’s hand rubbed up and down Maxie’s back, before rising to rub slow circles into his tangled hair.

Maxie slowly chuckled, feeling heady and distant. “I _knew_ it would be messy.”

He felt the snort that shook Archie. “You say that like you’re winning an argument.”

“I am.” Maxie snaked his arms about Archie. “With myself.”

“Well you’re not wrong. Your clothes are going to need to go in the wash the second you get up,” Archie said into his hair, and Maxie could feel his grin. “So. How did your data collection go?”

Maxie huffed and rolled his eyes. “Terrible. You kept derailing me. It’s my misfortune to tell you we’re going to have to do this again—"

That got an almost genuine laugh out of Archie, and one that rippled through Maxie too, close as he was. “We’re _not_ doing it again.”

Maxie stilled a bit and opened his eyes to frown into Archie's chest. “…We’re not?”

“No! You might be athletic enough to go three rounds in a night, but I am _not_. I don’t know what you were complaining about earlier, you clearly do still have the hormones of a teenager.”

Maxie processed that, and relaxed. “Oh, that. No, no, I mean later. I’m satisfied with _tonight’s_ results. I was referring to a later date.”

“ _Good_ ,” Archie muttered. “Other then your desire to do that again, was there anything you’d like to report on?”

Maxie dug in his nails into Archie’s back. “Bastard.” He grumbled without heat, “I can give you a _written report_ tomorrow if it would satisfy you, Archie.”

“Mm. Better not. For all I know that’s one of your kinks.”

“I am not ‘kinky’ seriously where did you even get that idea—”

Archie’s nails dragged down the small of his back, and Maxie gasped, arching into the movement.

“Not kinky at _all_.” Archie said, and that was definitely a grin that Maxie could now feel.

Maxie tried to elbow him, only to find that the angle was wrong. He settled for shifting up to press his mouth against Archie’s ear. “You have a tactical advantage _for now_. I’ll find _your_ weaknesses soon enough.” He growled lowly into his ear, only to be surprised when Archie twitched slightly against him at the sound of his voice.

Maxie narrowed his eyes and pulled back enough to glare at Archie, who was now avoiding his eyes.

“Which bit of that turned you on? And don’t lie to me,” Maxie squeezed his legs together where they were tangled with Archie’s. “I can _feel_ you.”

“You have a nice voice,” Archie muttered. “And you can make it surprisingly deep when you want to.”

Maxie tried not to think of all that ways he could abuse this and failed. It was almost disappointing that neither of them could get it up again right now, because he had _ideas_ and really wanted to see which strategies would work against Archie best.

“Stop having ideas, we’re not doing anything else tonight.” Archie sniped, red flush still covering his cheeks.

“Why couldn’t you have mentioned it _earlier_ ,” Maxie grumbled. “That’s going to haunt me, and I have work to do tomorrow!”

“It’s going to haunt _you_? Maxie. Do you have any idea how it makes _me_ feel?”

“ _No_ and now I’m going to have to wait to find out!” Maxie complained.

“You’ll live.” Archie replied, “I suppose this is going to end up as our honeymoon period, isn’t it. You’re going to be insatiable until you finish figuring this out.”

“Well. We are officially together, and you are _unfairly_ attractive. Even if it’s late, I think we’re allowed this. That is…if you’re not opposed? Was…it okay?” Maxie pressed his head back down and under Archie’s chin, trying to savour the warmth and closeness for a bit longer.

Just in case he’d been reading Archie wrong. Just because Maxie had liked this,didn’t mean that Archie wanted him that much.

Archie’s fingers returned to his hair, rubbing little circles into his scalp. “Trust me, I am _fine_ with that idea. More than fine. Ecstatic even. I look forward to seeing how you plan to torture me with your newfound knowledge.”

“You don’t have to take that tone,” Maxie grumbled. “ _I’m_ the one who’s going to be covered in scratch marks.”

“Ah…sorry for that, I thought—”

“Again! Not an objection!” Maxie interrupted, annoyed that he kept having to say that out loud, especially now where he didn’t have the arousal distracting him from his embarrassment. “I’m just saying that _you_ don’t get to complain about me finding out thing when you’ve been using your knowledge against me to your heart’s content.”

“…Okay. Fair enough.” Archie replied. “I will admit that I did not anticipate you being this…”

“Kinky?” Maxie cut in flatly when Archie spent too long hovering over the word. As much as he hated saying things out loud, it was much easier to say when Archie was so obviously uncertainty about it too.

“…Sure. Let’s go with that.” Archie said. “I think this might end up a bit of a learning curve for us, but I think this might even be fun? I…honestly didn’t expect you to approach it like this, but I think I get you a bit better now.”

Maxie frowned, humming in a questioning tone, as he wondered which bits Archie was focusing on. ‘Fun’ seemed like a _weird_ descriptive term for sex but then again it certainly hadn’t been _serious_ and there where certainly worse way to describe it.

“What do you ‘get’ about me?” Maxie asked, still trying to mentally fit the idea of ‘fun’ back into the ridged idea which is what he’d thought of sex before today.

“You’re a lot more stuck on the mechanics than anything else. Didn’t expect that at all. I thought it would be the emotional stuff that got you.” Archie replied thoughtfully.

Maxie frowned. “What does _that_ mean.”

“It was whenever you didn’t know where to put your hand next that you’d freeze up,” Archie said, voice wry. “I kept waiting for you to stop me, but every time you’d freeze, it was just you figuring out your next move.”

“Hm.” Maxie considered this and decided it was a fair point. “I did consider watching porn to figure out what movement’s where acceptable, but it was deeply unpleasant, and I ended up forgetting to do that.”

“Ya did well for all that,” Archie said and gave Maxie’s butt a squeeze.

Maxie tensed a bit, trying to catalogue the sensations only for Archie to quickly remove his hand. Rolling his eyes, Maxie cut in with. “…And I’ve found that for all that you call _me_ anxious you tend to assume that every breath I take is a sign of a negative reaction.”

There was a slight pause there, and Maxie allowed Archie to try and order his thought back together. “I…Sorry I—It’s most of the time if I can _see_ you freezing or tensing up it means that messed up, said the wrong this, and hurt you? And it’s tough to unsee that? I’ll try not to keep doing it—”

Maxie almost flinched that sunk in, and jerked, pulling an arm free to rest his hand under Archie’s jaw as he shifted to be able to see him. “—I’m sorry, I didn’t think about _why_ you’d assume that, I don’t mean—"

“ _Maxie_ it’s fine!”

Maxie glared. “Why do you keep saying that!”

Archie grin was almost soft, and he poked Maxie’s nose. “That’s cus it _is_ , you idiot. You’re not doing it on purpose, and neither am I, right? So, it’s fine, and we’ll figure it out. Didn’t you want to keep gathering data? Keep on going, and I’m sure that I’ll figure you out, as well as you figure out me.”

Maxie stared; eyebrows furrowed as he thought this through. “Yes. You said that at the start. That we _both_ want to learn this.”

“There ya go! Mechanics are easier enough for me, but I still gotta learn _you_. Relearn you. Now that we’re like this it’s a whole new set of rules, and we’re both…we’re both trying here, aren’t we?”

“Yes. We are.” Maxie pushed the hands off him and sat up even as his legs remained between Archie’s.

He trailed his eyes down Archie’s body, tracing the shapes and dips, the signs of what they’d just done, to the boxes around his knees, the sweat beading his dark skin and the faint flush that formed as Maxie returned to check his face. “I am probably going to spend a great deal of time learning you too then.”

“If it involves me getting to see you like that then please, take all the time you want,” Archie replied as he pointedly traced Maxie’s body with his own gaze.

Maxie heated sharply, even as he tried to resist looking down and failed. He looked much worse than Archie but that was mostly thanks to the red scratch marks that covered most of Maxie’s thighs. And all the parts of his body that had been aroused were still blushing bright pink too. He was sticky, and his sweater was absolutely going to be thrown in to soak before he returned to bed.

Archie, the bastard that he was, reached out to trail a hand up Maxie inner leg, caressing the red marks almost tenderly. It would have been impossible to miss the jump that caused.

Archie gave an almost wry grin, however, glancing back to Maxie’s face. “Ah, I know you said to not mind it, but I am sorry for scratching you up so much. I could kiss it better?”

“My skin just shows it because it’s too pale. You’re _not_ going to do that.” Maxie dragged his eyes away, even as he pulled his legs together a bit tighter as Archie’s remained, softly teasing the skin there.

He wasn’t about to get turned on properly again, despite Archie’s touch, but the vague thought about what Archie’s mouth would feel like down there almost managed to trigger it anyway.

Then Archie pinched the skin down there sharply, and Maxie’s legs fell back open as he whined then glowered at Archie. “ _You_ —” he snapped, “Stop that! I thought you said you couldn’t go again!”

Archie grinned like a shark. “I was just wondering if it would have any effect.” He said and pulled his hand free.

Eyes narrowing, Maxie leaned in over Archie and growled, “Keep doing that, and _I’m_ going to find out what I have to say to you to make to come in my hand, _Archie_.” And felt keen satisfaction when Archie breathed in sharply.

“You catch on annoyingly fast,” Archie said, frustrating further experiments from Maxie by sitting up and bumping their foreheads together. “Now. You want a shower now, right?”

“…Yes,” Maxie admitted grudgingly.

“Then get ya butt up and come get clean.”

It took fifteen minutes, a fight over who’d get the shower first, one that was lost when Maxie decided to throw his clothes in to soak clean first and ended with Maxie finally getting back out of the bathroom in time to find that Archie had already changed the sheets.

“Early yet,” Maxie said, glaring at the clock. “What now?”

“…It’s midnight.” Archie pinched his nose. “I don’t care what you want to do; I’m going to sleep. You can work or whatever else.”

Maxie considered this, standing at the foot of the bed as Archie threw back the clean covered and got into bed. “I guess I don’t have any pressing work…”

Archie sat down on the edge of the bed and raised an eyebrow at Maxie. “Mm?”

Maxie frowned harder, trying to judge his own tiredness. It was something he could ignore, but it was also something he could probably give in to. “I think I’ll join you.” He said at last.

Snorting, Archie swung up his legs into bed. “Cool.”

Maxie primely walked about to his own side, sliding into bed next to Archie and took off his glasses to put them onto the bedside table.

Flicking the light off he rolled over and found that Archie was there, ready to tangle their legs back together. A featherlight kiss pressed into Maxie’s forehead in the newly dark room, and Maxie searched for and found Archie’s hand to hold.

Under his clothes, the scratches ached lightly, in a pleasant way, and even now his head was still almost free of those thoughts he’d been expecting to return. It was almost quiet, but for their breathing. That had been better then he’d feared, and Archie had already agreed to do it again.

And he was still here, racking a hand through Maxie’s freshly combed hair, mucking it up again.

A smile pulled at Maxie’s mouth. “…I love you.” he managed and wriggled closer.

“Love ya too.” Archie murmured back into his hair.

It really would be a while before he slept, but lying here, wrapped in Archie and body aching pleasantly? That was good enough for now.


End file.
